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Poached Fish in Sorrel Coconut Sauce

Author Notes:Sorrel’s citrusy, sour greens flavor pairs extremely well with coconut milk. In this recipe I combine sorrel and coconut milk to create a simple and flavorful sauce as the liquid in which to poach fish. Typically, I make this dish with both salmon and tilapia fillets; however, all salmon or all tilapia will work as well. I really enjoy this dish with the heat of chili peppers. Therefore, if you can handle the heat then I recommend, as outlined in the recipe, garnishing with the chili peppers. —viblanco

Cut the onion in half, remove the outer layer and thinly slice the onion.

To a large saute pan, add one tablespoon of oil or enough to fully coat the bottom of the saute pan. Place on the stove burner and turn to medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the sliced onions. Let the onions to nearly caramelize by allowing them to brown; this process will take 15 to 20 minutes.

Once the onions are finished browning to near caramelization turn the stove down to medium heat. Take two of the 4 red chili peppers, remove the stems and slice the peppers in half vertically. Remove some seeds if your heat tolerance is low. Add to the saute pan the two red chili peppers that were cut in half and the sorrel. Constantly stir the sorrel so that it does not stick to the pan. As the sorrel is heated, it will cook down significantly, turn dark brownish-green in color and will add a bit of liquid to the pan.

Once the sorrel is fully cooked down (about 5 to 8 minutes), add the salt and brown sugar and mix. Shake the can of coconut milk and then open it. Slowly pour in the coconut milk into the saute pan while mixing it with the sorrel and onion contents.

Turn down the stove to low-medium and allow the sauce to come to an even temperature that is right below simmering, about 180F degrees.

Add the fish fillets to the saute pan and make sure that they are submerged in the liquid of the sauce. Allow the fillets to poach until they are cooked. This should take about 15 minutes, but, check for doneness.

Take the remaining two red chili peppers and slice horizontally to create circles of red chili slices. Place the fish and the sauce atop rice and garnish with red chili peppers.